Terrific, I teleport away from the sleeping ancient dragon (I only have 206HP) to a favorable spot near a vault (4-7 feeling on DL38, I'm CL25). I detect monsters and there is nothing dangerous in the vault, Azog and his son and mumaks. I'm high elf ranger with Aiglos and already got lucky with stat potions and a dwarven shield so I'm doing 241 melee vs evil. This is gonna be great; mumaks for experience, Azog and son for drops, and 7 feeling treasures! This is like the dream diving experience. I have a rod of trap detection. I think: 'I need to detect for traps'. But I'm thinking of using my book for some reason, not the rod, but my mana is about half and so somehow I didn't detect for traps with my book or rod and I start walking toward the vault and then ... "You stumble upon a trap! You float gently down to the next level". Aiglos will probably keep this mindnumbingly stupid blunder from costing me the game, but jeez, unreal.

Actually, I know why I didn't detect using the book; I just failed like 4 out of 5 times detecting for monsters (6% fail). I love RNG. It never ceases to amaze me.

Well, this has to be a first; killing a unique that is out of depth for the level I'm on and who is moving faster than I am. I do have some speed from Wormtongue, but I've been diving fast, 3X deeper than my turns (about 15k turns at DL46) when I suddenly encountered Ren the Unclean. I have no temporary haste ability. So normally when you are diving fast and encounter a unique that is out of depth for the level you are on, you do not fight it, especially when it moves quickly and you do not. Nevermind all that, I fiercely smote him with Aiglos even though I am a ranger and not a warrior at nearly 500 dam, and a few ?phases to heal and he fell quite easily. Picked up a short bow of Lothlorien but its to-dam is not out of depth, unfortunately. Still on the same level, I'm now at 520 to Undead, if I wear gloves of power it goes up to 535, but not sure that's worth the hit to spellcasting. Kind of insane to be doing this kind of damage so early into the game.

Actually, the ringwraiths are some of the easiest uniques to kill. They don't have a lot of HP and for the most part their spell attacks don't do a lot of damage. With fire branded/slay undead ammo, you cam bring them down fast.

Crash diving way too fast and made some more sillly blunders. I have a tendency to find really good items, not have room for them, and somehow forget to pick up the object, leaving a wand of TO behind (I did find a rod of TO shortly thereafter, but at DL65 and 296HP gonna require some paranoid play). Keep hitting the down stairs cause I keep ending up on levels I can't deal with, but a sorcerer just dropped 3 !CON. Amazing. Also just picked up a couple of !EXP so now I'm CL33 and a ring of INT <+4> so I will get the TO book from the store when I return. Also just picked up Telepathy cap, so I suppose not all is lost. I have good stealth, thanks to magi cloak and Hithlomir. My turn count is around 21k (DL65) And Angband just crashed . I know I should be wearing a ring of CON but I will be swapping a ring of slaying (+13, +6) with the INT ring.

My melee the whole game has been much better than my ranged attack (that Aiglos). I have a short bow of Lothlorien now, but its to-dam is only +12. I am only CL33 on DL65 so no Tensers yet. I just became able to use TO and haste self (when I return to the town I will buy the book), and cannot cast anything more difficult than those prayers presently. I'm actually not sure I've even encountered any rings of accuracy.

EDIT: Shoot, I think the Sorceror may have summoned something that I killed that tropped the cap of telepathy because I cleared the room where I picked it up and no one dropped it.

I'm doing between 185 and 473 per round using archery. Maybe I will swap Aiglos for Avavir since it has +3 speed, fire brand in addition to frost, though overall less damage output.

The Great Swamp Wyrm woke up and I didn't notice. Breathed on me and I died. Good thing I keep the =rPois in my backpack in case I encounter such a beast..... I had just found my first ring of accuracy, too (+0,+19). I was aware of the Wyrm since I was on ESP from the mushrooms I had, and was about to TO the ArchLich, then put on the rPois ring and do some Archery practice with the wyrm, but a Demonic and Rotting Q showed up so I figured I'd kill those before they summon things I can't deal with (my TO abilities were quite limited), and I fired an arrow of frost at the Demonic one and that was the last thing I would do.

So at last Angband plays fair. 7-6 level on DL36 and I'm heading to the down stairs since I don't have TO or *destruction* (though I do have shrooms of second sight) when I killed some things on the way to leave the level (another Basilisk who went down quickly this time, though I'm doing 3.3 blows now compared to 2.3 earlier) when I see an !Enlightenment. Can't be bothered to shuffle gear and I kinda wanna see what's in the vault anyway, so I quaff it without giving it a second thought. Okay, well now the hallways are illuminated, some mithril arrows, a long bow at the top and a helm, whip and mithril guantlets in the center. Why don't I just go back and see what's in it and if I can maybe do some lure and teleport tricks?

So I ESP near the vault and the worst offender is Ar-Pharazon. Actually, he is *the only* OOD monster. Now he is like the best way OOD monster to deal with compared to other monsters at that depth. He's basically the only one you can have a reasonable chance to get around of that depth.

So I blunder by forgetting to use the activation on the digging ring to get into the vault, and wake everything up drilling. Not paying close enough attention to Ar-Ph I'm suddenly teleported across to the other side of the level (where I started). I return and face him down in a hallway near the vault and he starts summoning things, but nothing terrible (worst being 7 headed hydra and Xaren). And I phase around for a bit waiting for him to teleport himself away but he teleports me again. 3rd time of this game, he teleports me on the *other* side of the vault--so I'm on the left side and he is on the right. Can I get into the vault without him being re-activated, or will I be too close?

I first had to deal with stone giants, mumaks, water trolls, and Agamantaite(sp) brothers. I blew through all my ?phases save 1 but once I got my hands on those mithril arrows of flame it was all gravy. I get into the center of the vault, no Ar-Ph. The helm is Seeing (I already have it) and the whip is Gondolin, but it has +18 dam and the gauntlets are slaying (+5, +5). Not terrible, worth the trouble... but the Katana of frost does the same amount of damage to cold as the whip does to others.

EDIT: So I came upon another vault (5-5) on DL38 after finding another mushroom of ESP, an !Enlightenment and Dwarven partial plate armor at the very start of the level. In the vault was an Ancient Blue Dragon, a Greater Maia and an 11 headed hydra, couple Giant Rocs and water trolls. After killing beorn just outside the vault and still hasted, I decided to sleep on what to do next: go headlong into the vault trying to maximize the rest of my haste, or see what Beorn dropped and finish off his friends? In the morning I decided to finish off his friends outside the vault, which was the correct decision. After ?phasing around to deal with the mob (haste wore off fairly quickly after killing Beorn), I ID a wand of TO dropped by a werebear, just above the vault. This time I actually pick up the damn thing. The ESP wears off as well. Nothing else of note was dropped. I enter the vault and start bashing on the trolls and orcs when the blue D shows up. I ?phase to favorable location where I entered the vault, use my last !speed, and easily crush the dragon. That went so well that when the greater Maia showed up I deliberated awhile and then decided, I'm already hasted, might as well give it a go. He went down surprisingly easily as well. The Rocs ate mithril arrows of flame.

I almost always have positive outcomes when I sleep on it. I did TO the 11 headed hydra, though. I don't have any base resists; I swap between "Searching <+8> "Acid and "Elec and I dropped rCold armor I was wearing in favor of the Dwarven.

I bought =Str <+3> from the store before entering DL38, and discovered I get better dam with =reckless than =Str so I kept =Str as a swap if I run into Dreads. Nothing in 2 of 3 compartments of the vault; was about to check out the last compartment when I hear a tearing roar; and find myself teleported across the level. Suddenly dreads are all over me in a square room. ?phase, =Str, {flame, melee, ?phase, {flame, melee. At +14 dam these arrows of flame are fairly OOD and allow me to fight where otherwise I'd have to _Teleport.

I'm a bit far away from the vault, now, and don't want to meet the Hydra again. I may _Teleport since I am likely to wind up closer than I am now. It suddenly just occurs to me there may be something more scary than what I've faced so far in that last compartment. Not sure a DL44 Hydra on DL38 gives a 5 feeling. Also, I don't recall what objects were in the last compartment when I first illuminated the level, but when I look over there now, there are no objects in it. The hydra was in that compartment, but I thought the Greater Maia was in a different compartment from the Hydra. I wonder if the Dwarven armor would be the cause for the 5 feeling? Has the Maia already been in there and cleared it of objects? Is there nothing left to get in there? Maybe I should just quit while I'm ahead. I happen to be near > and I picked up a ring of Dam (+10) dropped from one of the Dreads.

There's only one other object on the level I want and it's a !CON on the far left of the map. Kinda tempting to try to get it. Not sure it's worth the trouble, though. I think I'm gonna hit the stairs.

Moving on from DL38, just picked up Aglarang on DL40 feeling 3-7. Now we's in business. Nearly died twice to a chaos vortex, though. He engulfs to destroy me. Had to teleport away twice and !heal twice (ran out of !CCW). On our third encounter I finally stopped hitting the walls and killed him. I guess I should head home and get some more consumables. Wow, this weapon does same damage as the whip before I even know what the to-dam is! 6.5 blows.

Edit: This has been an interesting game: also picked up 3 more mushrooms of second sight in that little vault; and then picked up another !Enlightenment from an ancient dragon summoned from a trap in the vault. Onto the next vault! So I got all the tools I need for the next vault since I still have that wand of TO I picked up on DL38.

All warriors care about is damage output, right?

EDIT: Back in the dungeon after resupplying at home. Of course the level I recall on is 3-6 feeling after I dropped my last 5 ?phases before taking a trap door down to the level to recall on it. This sort of thing happens more often than it should.

In other news, I really should ?phase earlier during challenging fights. Just as I stepped onto the downstairs, Adunaphel showed up to my right in the wall. I figured I can take her down pretty easily and I have !restore life levels, and it's good to get pass through wall Uniques out of the game. It looked like I was gonna get Adunaphel when she summoned the Hydra. So I phased (very low on health as you can see) and my new location is not much better:

Now what to do.

My options are: ?Teleport, TO the Hydra, which leaves me still vulnerable to Audnaphel and the Nexus hound. ?phase again, or !*heal. ?phasing looks to be the least prudent option as I'm likely to still be in Hydra's LOS. Yikes, hydra breathes fire for 216! I have no rFire. I think it's heal or teleport.

So I !*healed, the Hydra approached. I ?phased back into the start room in the upper corner, so I stepped back to Knight's move the entrance and Adunaphel came in view. Looked like {flame would just about kill her, but not quite (which was my aim), and it did, sending her fleeing. I was about to quaff the !Restore when Hydra showed up. Decide I'll TO it and then quaff. TO fails and it steps forward. I decide at 284 dam meleeing him is really not very dangerous. Take him to half health in one round. Xaren shows up right behind him cutting through the wall. Finish off the Hydra, then mis-press to the right instead of diagonally attacking the Xaren. When I do line up properly, he flees and crushes my {flame. I only have 6 left. I fire a regular arrow since he's badly wounded and fleeing, but it doesn't kill him; he returns and I finish him, and then Adunaphel returns in the wall and I finish her and am welcomed to CL30. She drops mithril plate armor but it's magical.

Hmm.. I prove to be a fool once again. Forgot about the {excellent} shield the ancient blue dragon dropped a couple levels back. It ID's for Resistance. Just picked up rNexus from a very flimsy elvenkind armor. Will use it as a swap with the plate armor.

Not sure why I'm ?phasing to get away from Kavlax and not TOing him. Ever the optimist I am. Was hoping to ?phase near the stairs. Alas, he breathes gravity. Then he breathes shards.

Hmm.. it occurs to me I *have* to heal or I will bleed out and die. But if I heal at -5 speed I will surely die by Kavlax. So I'm dead? I just found this but I'm not sure how much it applies to my current situation.